IDF sources on Wednesday further confirmed to The Jerusalem Post that Lebanese military intelligence official Ali Abdullah, killed by the military on Tuesday, was a double-hat Hezbollah agent, despite denials by all Lebanese officials.
Already on Tuesday, the IDF had sent out a photo of Abdullah in a Lebanese Army uniform, and Hezbollah did not deny that the two other individuals he was killed with were connected to the terror organization.
But on Wednesday, IDF sources suggested they have extensive evidence confirming Abdullah also worked for Hezbollah, even if there is no corresponding photograph of him in a Hezbollah uniform (something that would have blown his cover).
Abdullah and the others were killed in a drone strike against a car near the coastal Lebanese city of Sidon on Monday.
In an additional confirmation of his involvement in Hezbollah versus the Lebanese Army, the Post had already confirmed that the military did not know that Abdullah was in Lebanese Army intelligence before killing him, only learning this fact afterward.
This means that all of its initial intelligence about Abdullah was solely connected to his work with Hezbollah, since the IDF did not even know he was connected to the Lebanese military.
It was unclear when the IDF learned that he was part of the Lebanese military, though there are many lines of communication between the Israeli and Lebanese militaries as well as through international mechanisms run by the US, France, and others.
Lebanese defense ministry, Hezbollah, deny all connection
The Lebanese Defense Ministry said suggestions that army personnel were tied to political or armed groups were false, and Defense Minister Michel Menassa said such reports amounted to a “malicious attack” on the institution.
Hezbollah likewise denied that he was connected to them.
However, admitting such an infiltration could be highly embarrassing to both groups, such that each of them would have an incentive to deny the link to Hezbollah.
The double-hat scenario was extremely unusual, not because there are no links between Hezbollah and the Lebanese Army – there have been significant reports of such links existing.
Rather, because most prior reports have indicated Lebanese Army officials leaking to Hezbollah officials about potential future Israeli moves against the Lebanese Army, but with the Lebanese Army officials maintaining their distinct identity as outside leakers, and not formally joining Hezbollah.
According to IDF sources, all of this takes place against the backdrop of a debate over whether to modify the US and French monitoring mechanism to crack down more aggressively and with binding timelines on Hezbollah’s rearmament efforts, or whether to escalate IDF attacks against the terror group.
Both strategies would be designed to roll back Hezbollah from its rearmament successes and moderate return to portions of southern Lebanon in recent months.
In early 2025, the Lebanese Army was making new and real progress against Hezbollah, and the terror group had not yet figured out how to smuggle in new weapons due to losing its prior large-scale smuggling routes through Syria after the fall of the Assad regime.
But in recent months, IDF sources told the Post that the Lebanese Army’s progress against Hezbollah has largely stalled, the terror group has figured out new smuggling routes and tactics to obtain new weapons, and is carrying out very small and manipulative violations in southern Lebanon to gradually wear down resistance to its making a comeback.
Despite Israeli ambitions on these issues, the Trump administration may soon pressure Israel to limit the volume of its attacks in Lebanon, and may even require withdrawal from one or more of the IDF’s five outposts in the area.
Alternatively, even as the Trump administration seems ready to crack down on Israeli attacks in Gaza and Syria, it may be more impatient with Hezbollah violations and may green-light a limited Israeli military escalation operation in Lebanon.